


Howling

by StoryCloud



Category: Undertale
Genre: After Ending, First Person, Gen, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Near Genocide Ending, Reference to death, References to Undertale Genocide Route, This is not Happy, Violence, aftermanth, near-genocide, tw blood?, undyne ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 08:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10272365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryCloud/pseuds/StoryCloud
Summary: "Seems Undyne is...hmm...even more vehement about destroying humanity." In which the monsters get their way - and no one wins.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Because I couldn't work on Neutral Colours (I've started the next chapter, but things got hectic - I got stuck, too, feeling too tired to get into it. I WILL get back to it.) I'm posting this short, written long before both Neutral Colors and Missing Child Case - its like a beta version, I took an idea and expanded.  
> This is a one-off. What happens next can be up to you.

From afar, the town was a silhouette. Dark shapes, houses and tower-like formations, jutting out gently from the black outline of the earth. Against the sunset. Course grass swayed as a desolate wind howled quietly above it.

Up close, the town was silent apart from that wind. Lights were still on in the early morning. Doors open, bikes in the street. The fountain in the town centre no longer flowed. A flower bent away from its fellows.

Beside it, on the pavement, lay a hand. The fingernails were raw.

Nearby, in a doorway, a figure lay. Hair sprawled out over the ground in golden flows. It repeated through the road, the other houses, where doors had been flung open in haste and the occupants struck down as they fled.

You’d hidden in the basement.

They were gone, whatever they were.

But it hadn’t been a nightmare.

Everyone was dead.

The TV in your home was still working. The whole place untouched, sans for the burns on the outside flowerbeds.

The inner cities, miles away from your town, showed reports of the same thing. Spreading fast.

You turned off the TV.

...

Yesterday, the world ended.

A black flurry of dots appeared on the tip of Mount Ebbot. You only noticed it when a passer-by in the street pointed it out to you. You stopped and watched alongside a bunch of strangers, as it came closer.

Then it vanished at the edge of the forest, and you went about your day feeling odd.

You were going home when the screams started, and with no warning, they were everywhere.

Creatures. Some you could compare to – dogs, and fish, or other things. Some you could give no such comparison. Horrible mountains of gooey agony that draped itself over screaming people, muffling their cries. The shrieks hadn’t faded. They’d just gone off, like a pause button.

Left and right people had been dropping. Your leg broke when something blue and thin smashed into your side.

You only escaped because the people behind you were louder.

The monsters yelled things that you couldn’t understand. For ‘Asgore’. For ‘Monster Kind’. Take that, human. There was a perverse sort of joy, of righteous anger, that rocked you to the very core. The jeers that went up when each person dropped –

The biggest one grinned all teeth and malice, one-eyed and giant with black armour and so many _swords -_

You dragged yourself down the street, on your stomach, barely able to breathe...and then you heard the school bell ringing. Little figures in striped shirts, polka dot overalls and wavy dresses came spilling out in droves, running on small legs and wailing.

The monsters lunged for them all. The ones in striped shirts first.

You scream, you begged, you cried out for help.

But nobody came.

...

They killed everyone.

Those who fought, and those who fled. The police had no time to react and by the time they did, it was too late.

Some got lucky. They shot the monsters, the creatures – and they exploded into dust. For a blessed moment they had the upper hand...and then through the ground itself a bunch of blue spears blasted into being, and the gunshots stopped.

Only one cop survived. You saw them from meters away, dragging a hysterical couple into a car. A small child, probably four or five, was bundled up in a blanket and staring. They had fuzzy hair, purple and blue striped clothes. They vanished alongside the three adults.

People who got into cars had a better chance, probably.

The monsters chased them out of town, towards the city. Perhaps they hadn’t been expecting cars.

You laughed, but felt no joy. You sat on your couch, numbly aware that your relatives were probably lying dead in another street.

You heard no noise. Just the wind. You didn’t know why but you where certain than not even a _toddler_ had survived.

“...heya.”

You turned your head. Your skin, your face felt strange. Like it was floppy yet stiff, like it wasn’t yours. You stared mutely at the monster standing in your living room, at the edge of the rug, watching you. Smiling lazily. It looked like a chubby skeleton.

You gave a strangled laugh. But since your lips stayed straight and your body barely moved, it came out as a huff.

You were almost glad. No more howling wind, no more silence. No getting left behind. No more waiting for the end.

“...that expression you’re wearing.” The skeleton said, glancing sideways as if actually contemplating it. Still smiling. “you kinda look lost, pal. Like you have no idea what just happened or what’s going on.”

He didn’t seem...surprised. Just interested, perhaps mildly taken aback by this piece of information. Perhaps not believing it in the end.

“Don’t say much?” The skeleton looked at you, winking slowly. “...you remind me of the kid.”

You had no idea what that meant.

He closed his eyes. How does a skeleton have eyelids, again?

“You know.” He began, placing his bony hands into his pockets, “Years back, I’d have given anything to see that look plastered on a human’s face, after they made sure every monster used that expression first. They all looked like you do, when the barrier went up.”

You couldn’t comprehend any of this. You just stared.

“...But now...heck, it doesn’t make me feel better at all.”

You felt like you ought to respond. You opened your mouth and closed it various times, before you croaked –

“Everyone’s dead.”

The skeleton – guy? – looked at you and perhaps a pitying expression, or a resigned one, passed his face. Solemn. “...yeah.”

“Even the kids.”

Your voice cracked. His...eyebrows seemed to shift, white pupils directing away from you. But no anger flared inside you. You just wanted someone else to know, to listen. Your face grew wet. “I couldn’t do anything. I yelled but they wouldn’t stop. By the time I got to my feet they...”

There was no sobbing. If you started you’d never stop.

“...Hey, buddy. Let’s put some TV on for ya.”

The skeleton wandered over and picked up the remote, and honestly, you didn’t care. He turned it back on and the news report flickered back into view, the coverage from a helicopter. A highway, cars piled up, blocking off the road. Humans clustered against them, on their knees. Monsters on the opposite end, filed behind that –

The fish one –

And a small bundle of humans before her. The camera zoomed in, and the skeleton stared. The whites of his eyes vanished.

There was the couple from before. A messy-haired mother, a father squinting through the howling wind. On their knees, clutching something between them. Small hands around their father’s neck, the kid in the purple and blue striped overalls.

You almost vomited.

“Oh god. They’re gonna kill them.”

“Buddy.” The skeleton was looking at you, pitch black eyes and all, “They deserve it.”

You shuddered out your next breath, “Its a family, it’s a mom and a dad and a kid. They’re like, four. Oh god. Oh man. Please.”

The skeleton stared at you.

The tiny figure slipped out of their parent’s hold as the fish woman wrenched them up. The mother screamed. The father leaped up, but couldn’t reach. Their cries got into your brain, muffled by the helicopter’s hum and the wind yet you could still hear it.

The child hung limply, staring at the monster as if surprised. The crowd of monsters behind her roared, cheering with joyous enthusiasm that both bewildered and terrified you.

Grinning yellow teeth the fish woman lifted her lance –

_Swipe._

...And the mother and father had attacked, one on the left, one of the right, old knife and real knife in hand.

The fish woman stared forward, her face blank with shock. The kid fell from her grasp and into the father’s arms and they _ran._

You laughed. Thick and throaty. You looked at the skeleton and realised you were grinning wider than he was.

“You were after the kid?” You asked, laughing shrilly. Madly. “The things – they went for the striped kids first. You were after a _little kid?”_

The skeleton turned towards you, his eyes sunken and empty. Your eyes narrowed, spilling over. “What kind of monsters are you?”

“You started this, buddy.”

“I haven’t believed in monsters since I was ten.”

“...yeah, I got nothin’, I guess.”

Is it mercy, you wonder, that you survived. Is it really.

You’re both stuck. Like there’s a glitch in the system that’s impossible to get by. And all you can do is watch.


End file.
